Raving Liberal – I’m Coming Out (of the Closet…)

Ok, I’m coming out. I’m not the first or the last one to do so, but it’s time to do so. I’m certainly not famous enough for anyone to really care, but it’s important to me..

I use marijuana. I am a legal, medical marijuana patient. There I said it..

Let me first say that I do not, and have never felt any compulsion to use it. Much like with other prescription and over the counter drugs, I am consistently more inclined not to do it for I am generally more effective in my life sober. But I use it because I like what it does to me..

It reduces my back pain.

It reduces my headaches. It helps me sleep..

It tunes me into my guitar and to music in general.

Ironically, it suppresses my appetite (the opposite of most people) and keeps me from getting hungry again for snacks after dinner.

It makes me really enjoy giving a massage to my wife.

It makes me very intuitive in the massage. Very healing. I really connect with her.

It makes me nicer. Mellower. More considerate. More affectionate. More relaxed. I am a very intense person, and my wife knew what I was going in. But she really likes me high.. Not all the time maybe, but she’d like me to be high far more than I choose to do it. Maybe it’s those massages….

OK, I admit, when high I might start 10 different things over the course of an hour without ever finishing anything, so I just don’t do it when I have things that need getting done. I admit I talk through movies after a puff or two. Speed chess is probably out.. Also, I might not want to drive when I’m real high. Do they give tickets for going too slow?

But are these side effects really any worse than those long disclaimers read by part-time auctioneers for Valium, or Vicoden, or Prosac, or Phenergen, or Ambian, or Aspirin, or Lithium, or the other 50 or so prescription and over the counter drugs that Marijuana replaces all or in part. Are the effects of Marijuana really worse than the zombie stare of the emotionally numb Prozac patient? I can stop pot anytime with no ill effects. None. Nada. Prozac takes weeks of slowly reducing the dosage to stop using it. That or face horrible withdrawals. And hopefully you won’t get the leg jerks, or the face twitches, or liver damage, or nightmares, or suicide, etc… etc… etc… the lovely little “rare” side effects that are actually not that uncommon with long-term use. Those FDA tests don’t last 10 years. They really have no clue what any new prescription drug does over decades. But Marijuana we know, very, very well.

Chronic Pain, Nausea, Glaucoma, Insomnia, Depression, Anxiety, Multiple Sclerosis, Anorexia, Headaches, Crohns disease, the actual list of diseases helped by Marijuana use is too long for this forum. The real irony of the war against marijuana is that I challenge anyone to find a single pharmaceutical drug that is beneficial for such a wide range of conditions. Marijuana is truly a miracle drug to millions.. Studies even suggest it may stimulate the creation of hippocampus (the brains’ file manager responsible for short term memory) cells in the brain, the ultimate irony..

But the most important thing the magical Mary-Jane does for me is it instantly changes my perspective. Puts me totally in the moment. And by doing that, it also breaks me out of bad emotional cycles. When I get stressed out, or am under a lot of pressure,(even that mysterious, illogical, self-imposed kind) like many people, (maybe most people) I get a little fixated on the problems, or the disappointments, or the wrong soap. Whatever. I fixate on the past and the future. Everything but the now. But after getting high, I only see right now, and right now everything is fine, and amazingly once sober again, the fixation is gone. I’m calm and centered again. It’s like having a shrink in the house. An instantaneous new perspective. A kinder, gentler perspective. Nobody fights on grass…they makeup.

Now I may not be an MS in Psychology or a Doctor, but I am smart enough and in-tune with myself enough to know what helps and what hurts me. Marijuana provides me many benefits with virtually no harm whatsoever. I even use a vaporizer which all but eliminates the harm to your lungs.. So why is it still illegal? Can anyone really justify denying me all these benefits with virtually no side effects whatsoever, except maybe the occasional misplaced giggle or unclosed peanut butter jar? And honestly, all the “gateway to hard drugs” nonsense is complete propaganda. The only reason it could facilitate moving into “harder” drugs is because you are forced to buy it from black market drug dealers who often also sell… you guessed it… harder drugs. But far more often that pot dealer it just a friend, just a person trying to get their medicine for free. But somewhere up that black market distribution chain is some dangerous SOB’s. This is the inarguable justification for abolishing prohibition of all the organic drugs; eliminating the drug money from the black market, for with it goes the violence and the exposure of our kids and our neighborhoods to those ruthless elements.

The prohibition of Marijuana is a travesty and it’s clear to anyone who really looks objectively, or actually listens to patients. And yes, many people just do it recreationally. Same as most of America has a drink after dinner. Why do they do it? Because it makes them feel good, and happy, and relaxed. It helps them sleep. All the things I mentioned earlier and more. Isn’t that what any medicine does? Make you feel better?